Category: Bad

Our final look at the leaders, trailers, and outliers in the Washington Nationals minor leagues. Repeats from 2015 are in italics.

PLEASE NOTE: This format discriminates against multi-level players (hence: no Koda Glover and Lucas Giolito) and age relative to the level is a key factor, especially in the short-season leagues. I’ve also excluded players who were traded away (Max Schrock), though I think that may have only cost him an “Interesting” mention for Potomac; the “Orange” had a longer period of sustained excellence and were it not for my disdain of BA-style double-dipping, I may have named him “Interesting” for Harrisburg because he continued to excel at AA.

SYRACUSE CHIEFS
61-82, 6th place International League North, 30 games behind

In keeping with my motto of doing what I can when I can, I’ve decided to cut back the GBI to something more manageable this year — every three weeks. This will still give us eight editions, and to compensate for the lower frequency, I will double up each section. My apologies in advance to for the disappointment, but the alternative was to scrap it altogether.

For the newcomers…. this a silly little thing I began a few years ago on a lark. It’s somehow become one of the site’s staples. Stolen from Named after comedian Demetri Martin’s segment of the same name from his too-brief (2009-2010) run on Comedy Central, it’s my way of taking a look at who’s doing well, poorly, or pointing out something unexpected.

Invariably, it seems that whenever a player makes this list — good or bad — his fortune turns. Of course, that’s merely coincidence, but as much as we embrace science and statistics, superstition will always be a part of baseball. Thus, the effect known as “the curse of the GBI.”

Now, for the usual disclaimers… it’s early in the season, small sample sizes, stats in the minors are misleading, void where prohibited, valid only at participating locations, employees must wash hands after using the bathroom, etc.

And the usual reminder: The guys, their friends, families, and agents reading this, so keep it clean in the comments. This is just for fun.